Tag Archives: Kids’ corner

My dad decided it would be nice to take a run in the evening sun in a small town in the Czech Republic.We had just started up a steady pace when we reached the tree my dad had said to turn around at.He always likes to face traffic as we run so that meant that we crossed the road and started running back on the other side when dad had just started a conversation about what our favorite days have been.I decided the Demel chocolate factory was a really tasty day in Vienna because I got to buy a big bar of chocolate to munch on.I started thinking about other fun days that we had done when suddenly there was a searing pain from my eyelid.I screeched in pain as I pulled a squirming bee from under my eyelid. Luke’s remark “ she started crying and cried the whole way home.” My dad said there was a small blood mark where the bee had stung me twice.It sounds like I was being a baby but it truly did hurt I mean the bee actually was flying at me and I felt it directly below my eyelid.I closed my eyelid and it got stuck between my eyelid and my cheek and had a massive fight with my eyelid.Dad started saying that I was “Ana the eyelid bee crusher.”Finally we rounded the corner and building 66 was there.That building was the building that we were staying in.My mom told me to put a ice pack on it but the problem was — well it really wasn’t a problem at all — it’s just that I hate having that cold wet surface up against my skin. Just above my eye, my bee sting started to swell really bad.It almost felt like it was bruised.Later that night I ate dinner and went to bed.It felt so weird sleeping with a puffy eye.Sunlight came through the windows and I woke up only to find that my eye lid felt very strange, not like yesterday. I walked into the kitchen and… “AAAAAHHHHH!” my mom screeched when she saw. I had no idea why.Slowly but steadily,I moved out of the room to go find the nearest mirror.I almost screamed that the swelling had totally moved from above my eye to below it and it was a lot more puffy.

In the end my eye got back to normal and that concludes our story for the day!

The Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland is a breathtaking place.Its 324 meter deep shaft is the home of 95% pure salt.It is so long that it is world heritage site.

In reality, we marched down some stairs that felt like we were in an abyss.Partly because, if you look down (which I did many times) there was nothing but black.Finally, we arrived at the bottom.The tour guide proclaimed that the salt was called rock salt because it was 95% pure salt.The other 5% are rocks like limestone.The next passage was quite different, the walls were covered with white crystals.The guide said that this was pure salt crystal.

The next ten chambers were a church and statues of people like Copernicus and their patron saint.Why is Copernicus in there you ask?Well, he visited there ten years after the mine opened.

In one other chamber, there was a statue of the king and a fascinating display of how they would carry the rock salt out of the mine.It was a pully that you got to pull (if you were lucky, which I was).When I pulled the wood, the rope on the other end would pull the salt up.If I pulled it the other way, it would go speedily down the hall to the other side so that transporting the salt out would be faster and more efficient.

In the next chamber, there were more white crystals.But this time the tour guide said you could lick the salt.I was delighted. The salt was extremely delicious.But to my misfortune, I couldn’t have any more because Mom caught me licking the wall.Because Luke didn’t think he had enough, when we got to the next room that had some souvenir shops, Luke went over and bought a necklace made from salt and started licking.And licking.And licking.And licking.

In the next room there were some dummies carrying a stick with fake fire on it.The tour guide explained that this type of gas would build up and then blow up.So, they had this torch that would burn the gas and then they would have safer mining.

The next room was full of stairs.

“Once,” the tour guide remarked, “an Italian said that it looked like the entrance to hell!”The miners would have these big sacks over their shoulders containing rock salt and march up and down these stairs.Thankfully, we didn’t have backpacks as we marched downstairs with caution.

We entered a cavern.It was massive, full of rusty equipment and rock salt dwarves.The miners carved them because they believed that at the end of the day the dwarves would finish all the undone work that the miners didn’t do.Moving on, we entered a large chapel.It was humongous.It had many paintings carved into the wall like an excellent carving of the last supper.Another vivid one, about when Herod was killing all the babies in search for Jesus, was across the way.And, a few others carvings in low relief adorned the walls.The alter had a big sculpture of Mary and Jesus, and their patron saint.The guide told us it was one out of forty-two chapels in the mines.

Then, we entered a small cave.It was rather dark and it had a pool in the middle.They say that you used to get on a boat and sail down it until World War I when seven Austrian soldiers were trapped under the boat and died.Why they were in there, I don’t know.Then we went to a room that was kind of small with a small chapel and an elevator.From there, we went to the surface and I bought a huge thing of salt.Then, we left.

My sister, my Mom and I galloped to the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. After side saddling a subway train, we arrived above ground surrounded by a huge church, horse drawn carriages, and ornate buildings. It was like nothing I had ever seen before! The gothic church of St Stephens towered over the neighboring buildings, with its carefully patterned tiled roof of green, black, aqua, yellow and white.

“Hold your horses,” Mom should have joked as we stopped to examine the map.

We walked for a few minutes and gladly collected our tickets at Will Call. Quickly climbing up two flights of stairs, our seats awaited us in the second gallery. Statues of knights and kings gallantly posed with their swords on either end of the ring. Sitting in our seats and leaning over the wide, chilly, and decorative stone railing, we observed as the enormous blue chandeliers rose up into the air and the first act began.

Six young Lipizzaners pranced out of the gate, wearing fancy saddles and reigns. The riders wore identical uniforms and each carried a birch wood crop. The horses did circles and exquisite sidesteps. Then, the second act opened and two horses came out. They did a duet in perfect synchronization. They danced pirouettes and a gait where they picked up their feet to a prance.

The next act was most exciting! The regal stallions performed high jumps and reared up with their riders on their backs and bunny hopped on their back legs. The crowd oohed and applauded as each horse took center ring. It was amazing!

Then the fourth act started. It was solo. Magnificently controlling the horse with only a switch of his hand, a man appeared with a horse, following behind it, directing with a pair of long reigns that were the length of the horse. The horse cantered and side stepped, like a professional performer.

The fifth and last act began with eight Lipizzaners with riders prancing in tidy lines and patterns in unison. As they crossed each new line , I knew it was a experience I would always remember. Spanish Riding School in Vienna was amazing. I had a blast.

1. Find the nearest informational plaque and stand right in front of it. If your siblings can still almost read it, lean on the plaque.

2. Step in front of the interactive touchscreen. Instead of clicking on the “next” screen, drag your finger across the screen and enjoy the cloud that forms behind your finger. Start doing faster and faster loops. Keep doing this until the museum guard asks where your parents are.

3. Sit on the low brick wall placed in front of the preserved section of the underground city wall with your coffee. Let the same guard who spoke to your child come tell you that you cannot sit on the perfect-height-for-sitting wall.

4. Bounce the coin in your hoodie pocket over and over and surprisingly violently, for fun. Accidentally bounce it out of your pocket and let it roll across the suspended walkway you are standing on. Watch as it rolls off the walkway and into the ancient city excavation below. Try to help your dad apologize to the guard in a foreign language. Don’t be surprised if the guard tells you that you are not going to get your coin back.

5. When the museum seems to drag on FOREVER and ever and you are hungry for a snack just drape yourself across your parents. Any bag or backpack they are carrying is actually designed to also be a handhold. Transfer as much of your weight off of your feet and onto their bag. Alternative method–Link your hands up around their arm or shoulder. Hang like a sloth on a tree branch.

6. Get really excited about the arms and armor exhibits. Ignore any suspicious stares from museum guards. Pick your weapons and suits of armor since you are actually living in a Ranger’s Apprentice book. Try to figure out which one looks like a saxe knife. Point at the suits of armor over the railing but neglect to notice the laser beam you are breaking. Pretend you don’t notice the audio alarm that is going off (again). Do this three times. Try not to make eye contact with approaching museum guards.

7. Max perform the audio guide. Make sure you know how to turn it on and off, rapidly. Then see if you can break your record. Continue till it powers down and won’t come back on. Then, give it to your parents.

8. If any of the material seems a bit slow paced, get as far ahead of your family as you can. Go several rooms ahead in the museum. Consider it a challenge.

9. As you tour the underground salt mine, really get into enjoying the salt. Lick your hand, drag it along the mine wall for yards and yards then lick it again. Any wooden beams that are painted white should be similarly enjoyed. Do this as long as possible or until your parents notice.

10. When the guided tour is in the relatively small confines of the king’s bedchamber, strike. Employ a silent, but deadly, attack from your GI system. Take note of others’ faces to see why anyone might be avoiding that area of the room. Prepare your defense ahead of any possible recognition contingency–“whoever smelt it, dealt it.”

First thought in the morning: Oh my gosh its my birthday! I immediately woke the nearest person which unfortunately happened to be the champion sleeper, Will. Will retaliated fiercely with a punch straight into my face. What a wonderful way to start my day. My next big mistake was to wake up both Cami and Ana which resulted in the dreadful 12 birthday spankings. I simply stood no chance against the three bloodthirsty vicious triplets. Will of course was whacking and kicking practically any part of my body (I think he did more than 12). Ana was whacking me over the head with her surprisingly hard stuffed animal, Lamby (Believe me that thing hurts). Camille was doing something to me but I was in so much pain already I didn’t feel it. After I had recovered from that deadly shock, Will would not leave me alone with excuses of “12 birthday kickings’’ and things like whackings and pretty much anything that resulted in me receiving pain.
Now the day started to get a bit better. It was breakfast and we were settling down for my favorite rice, sugar, and butter. A sweet breakfast that literally consists of rice, sugar, butter and milk if you want it. Then Mom took a nap and Dad went to work on the blog. That left the apartment pretty much our play room. We did all sorts of things kids would call fun running around in me and Will’s case, wrestling, legos, video games. It was, I have to say, very enjoyable. Next thing we knew it was lunch. We all sat down for my favorite dish: Mac and cheese homemade.

MMMMmmmmmm my mouth still waters at the thought of it. Now we moved on to the Baths.

You’d be surprised when you realize that the Baths are actually a large pool complex with maybe 25 pools and a few saunas. That afternoon was one of the best in my life. There where three large outdoor pools and many indoor small ones. On the far right was a huge pool that was so warm you didn’t want to swim, just lay there forever.

Finally we got out because the water was getting pretty hot. The middle pool was slightly smaller than the other two pools. It was your average swimming laps pools. We didn’t swim in it. Then we entered the farther to the left pool. The water was half hot and half cold. In other words, just right. There happened to be a whirlpool in it. Boy, we rocked that whirlpool!

There were more people in the pool than I had ever seen in my life. After a few hours or so we got out of the pool to see the indoor pools. The pools came in many different colors, temperatures, and sizes. Some were green, blue, red. (The green one smelled terrible.) In most areas, there was a hot pool and then a cold pool. And then there were the saunas. Aaahhhh! I love those things! My first encounter happened to be a wet sauna. My first thought was, “Why can’t I see anything?” The room was completely mist. At first, it was hard to breathe. But, I have to say, it was very relaxing. Then after that we kids wanted to try out the dry sauna. I felt like I was in the desert. The back of the chair was so hot I couldn’t rest my back against it. So overall the experience with the wet sauna: good, dry sauna: bad.

(pictures of the cabins and changing rooms prior to getting in to the baths)

Then, we drove out of there and went to Burger King, got some burgers, and drove back to the apartment. The triplets were very kind. They gave me a book, a song, and a pack of gummy worms. Then, we broke out the lemonade, but the lemonade happened to be lemon juice. Too bad we can’t speak Hungarian! We ate our burgers, I passed out gummy worms and we were ready for the movie. We watched Captain America Winter Soldier. It is one of my favorite movies now. During the movie, Dad gave everyone three small pieces of different cakes and one scoop of ice cream. I will have a hard time having a better birthday in the future.

Hello my name is William James Mesquit. I am ten years old (and counting). I love to dig, build and play with sticks. (I like legos, too.) Recently, I was lucky enough to get a dog. He was a rescue (a dog we rescued from a kill shelter) and we named him Samwise. His full name (I only call him this, not the rest of the family) Samwise Gamgee James Graffer Scruffy (his original name was Scruffy) Mesquit. Some name! If I had a job I would be a CONTRACTOR because I like to build and design stuff.

I was born on March 27, 2004. I am ten years old and currently on a trip around the world. I am most excited to go to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the Parthenon in Greece. My favorite animals are horses and hamsters. I have a sister named Camille and two brothers named Luke and Will. I am a triplet and also an identical twin. My favorite food is mashed potatoes. I enjoy ballet, soccer and horseback riding. I have taken ballet for seven years. I have been in various Nutcrackers and other recitals. I enjoy traveling and reading Harry Potter, Rick Riordan, John Flannagan, J.R.R Tolkien and CS Lewis. My favorite movies are the Lord of the Rings series and the Hobbit. My family and I have a dog named Samwise Gamgee Mesquit from the Lord of the Rings, Samwise for short. I used to have a hamster named Artemis but it died recently. I am looking forward to our big adventure around the world.

Hi my name is Luke, I am 12 years old. A few of my favorite things to do are building legos, playing Risk, hanging out with my friends and playing sports. Now going on this trip has limited quite a few of those things. Which is one of the reasons why I didn’t want to go on this trip at first. I have to admit it was hard to leave my friends in New Jersey, but once we started the trip I really loved it. As a member of Kid’s Corner me and my siblings will write often. A few of the subjects we are going to write about are Disney world, Mexico, and many more. Thank you for reading the Mesquit’s blog.

A few days ago was August 31and my brother’s birthday! I woke up and saw my bro’s rear stickin’ in the air. You don’t get that opportunity every day. Twelve “birthday spankings” flew home! Today was his 12th birthday so he received 48 (because there are five of us but Mom broke her hand)! Then after we successfully handed out the spankings we ate breakfast. Then, we hit the road to go to ……………..church! The church was the first church to have English (and Hungarian) songs! After the last song, we (I) found a forint. I wanted to know how much it was worth and the answer was half a penny! So I was still in shock when we arrived at one of the most popular tourist attractions: THE.BATHS. If you don’t know what it is you are missing out BIG-TIME. The baths are a variety of different types of bath for example:

1 The fun bath. The fun bath is a massive pool with a whirlpool and small jet of water.

2 The relaxing pool. A pool that is hot and soothing.

fun fact. The baths are built upon 170 degree water (they cool it down though).

3 The lap pool. A pool that is made for laps and people with swimming hats.

fun fact. The baths have two types of saunas.

4 Wet sauna. A place so moist, I wanted a gas mask.

5 Dry sauna. A rather hot room.

fun fact. I find it hard to find fresh air in a sauna.

Once we explored most of the pools, we went home to watch the winter solider. Creepy PG 13 for a reason, but I like it. After demolishing the cake, we went to bed. What a day:)

I was born March 27, 2004, in Bethesda, Maryland. I have three siblings—Luke, Will and Ana. Two of which, I am triplets with—Ana and Will. I am also an identical twin with Ana. We share toys, play together and are interested in much of the same things. Being a kid, like most kids, I like to read interesting, adventurous, fast-moving stories that I can get through in no time and still remember them. The stories I read are Percy Jackson, Ranger’s Apprentice, Harry Potter and many more series that interest kids like me. Being a military child, I moved all over. My favorite places I’ve lived are Colorado (because of our huge house and the friendly people) and New Jersey (where I met lots of friends). My very first pet was my dog, Samwise. Soon I bought Joey the hamster. He was mean. He would bite till he drew blood, he probably thought he was a large animal but he was a dwarf hamster. And that was it with hamsters. Normally, I am judged as obsessed with horses but that is true. I just love horses, they are beautiful animals. This year, 2014, I and my family will travel the world for a year and we will have a blast. I am looking forward to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.